Ineos feels the squeeze in Europe

The petrochemical giant Ineos is fighting on one front to stop imports of low-cost chemicals into Europe and on another to complete construction of a controversial new European chemical complex.Ineos has filed or is filing 10 antidumping lawsuits with the European Commission (EC) in a bid to stop what it calls “a tidal wave” of chemical imports into the continent from Asia, the Middle East, and the US. Separately, environmental groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop Project One, a huge ethylene cracker Ineos has started building in Antwerp, Belgium. The suit claims that the company is substantially underrepresenting the climate and health impacts of emissions from the plant.Ineos says it is filing the antidumping suits because a flood of low-cost imports with a high carbon footprint threatens investment, sovereignty, and thousands of manufacturing jobs in Europe. The suits target imports of polyvinyl chloride, ethylene glycol, butanediol, purified terephthalic acid, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene polymer, polyethylene glycols, butyl acetate, and polyolefins.The company says it makes these chemicals at 15 European sites that employ over 5,000 workers. Its decision to file the antidumping suits follows a wave of petrochemical plant closures across Europe in the past few years due to high regional production costs and the low cost of imported products.“Sites are closing, carbon-heavy imports are surging, and politicians are still asleep at the wheel,” Ineos group director Tom Crotty says in a press release. “Unless Europe wakes up fast, it won’t just lose its chemical industry it will lose the foundation of